Sweet and Sticky Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)

If you love a juicy, sweet & sticky char siu (Chinese BBQ Pork), give this easy recipe a try! Delicious char siu is achievable at home! Updated to include instructions on how to make char siu in the oven so this can be made in the oven or the grill depending on the season.

Update 12/11/18 : Added instructions on how to cook this in the oven! Woohoo! So now this can be made in the oven or on the grill depending on the season!

Every time I look up a recipe for char siu, I used a different one every time, with different results every time. So I decided to actually spend the time and create one to my liking! I like my char siu very sweet and sticky and I don’t like using food coloring in my foods (because I don’t feel like it really adds anything to it except color) so I wanted to get the color as natural as possible by using red fermented bean curd and ta da! A recipe is born.

There’s a lot to cover for char siu this recipe, so let’s get started!

INGREDIENTS

For this Char Siu recipe, most of the ingredients can be found at your local grocery store, however red fermented tofu, Korean red pepper flakes may be harder to find and you may have to find them at an Asian grocery store but this ingredient is optional.

If you decide to use the optional ingredient, Korean red pepper flakes then the red will still be there and you will have a bit of a spiciness to it as well. (mild spicy) It will also give the char siu a earthier flavour. So if you don’t want this – skip it! 🙂

For the molasses, we used fancy/cooking molasses which is different from blackstrap molasses. Fancy molasses has a higher sugar content and blackstrap molasses is black in color and actually bitter.

Red Fermented Tofu & Substitutions

Traditionally, char siu is always red. I prefer not to use dye so I used red fermented tofu (aka red bean curd) for the color and the salt. The red fermented tofu also adds another dimension of flavour similar to what the cooking wine provides as well.

Red fermented tofu/red bean curd might be difficult to find if you do not have a local Asian grocery store nearby. You can substitute this with 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce OR 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce. As always, substitution may not produce the exact flavour but it will be somewhat close. 🙂

In this recipe, the red fermented tofu (aka red bean curd) is used as a source of sodium and color, so if you substitute it out, you will lose a the red color that char siu is known for.

CUTS OF MEAT

Let’s talk meat.

The cut of pork you will make the char siu with will be a personal preference. I prefer a more fatty and juicy char siu so I went with a pork shoulder (you can also use pork butt as well). Some may prefer a more leaner char siu, for that I’d say use a pork tenderloin. The recipe here will be for a pork shoulder, so you may need to adjust how long you cook it for.

I highly suggest using a meat thermometer because it takes the guessing work out of cooking meat and that is a glorious thing. One less thing to worry about in the kitchen. I have eaten my fair share of raw chicken, and believe me, a meat thermometer is a very good investment in the kitchen if you cook a lot of meat. I prefer the digital ones, not because I’m fancy but because the digital ones use a long wire prong which I can leave in the meat in the BBQ/oven. This allows me to read the temperature without ever opening the oven or BBQ.

Cut the pork up in long thin chunks. It cooks faster, and you get more surface area for sauce. Mmmm! The sauce is the best part of this, you know it! 😛

Experiment: I added Korean red pepper flakes. Why? 2 reasons, because I thought it might give it a nice red as well — which it did! and because I like things a bit spicy so I thought it’d also give it a little kick. It gave it a small spicy kick, not a big one so this is an optional ingredient on the actual recipe. Adding this in will also change the flavour a bit to a more earthier flavour.

CHAR SIU’S SIGNATURE SWEET GLAZE

Next let’s talk sweeteners!

Char siu’s trademark is it’s sweet and stickiness. I like to used molasses for this recipe. Fancy molasses, not blackstrap molasses – blackstrap molasses is bitter. It has a dark earthy kind of sweetness, that’s not too sweet, but still sweet enough to have a sweet glaze. For convenience, I usually will use honey when I don’t have molasses at home.

I also recommend using barley malt syrup and maltose as well but these are a bit harder to find so if you do choose to hunt for the odd ingredients, you can usually find maltose in an Asian grocery store and the barley malt syrup in a health food store. 🙂

After you are done marinating the meat, we will re-use the marinating sauce as the glazing sauce. This is when you will add additional honey to it. The honey will sweeten up the glaze and thicken it up to give us that nice sticky thick layer 🙂 Alternatively, you can also remake the glaze and then add the honey in if you do not want to re-use the marinade.

HEAT

Lastly, let’s talk heat. We can make this over the grill or in the oven. Both turn out fantastic, but I found that char siu cooked a lot faster in on the grill than in the oven – with more char as well.

Grilling Instructions for Char Siu

I used a charcoal BBQ for this, with indirect heat from hot charcoals off to the side. I haven’t tested this in the oven but I will on my next batch of char siu, but for now if you decide to experiment in the oven let me know how it turns out! 🙂

On the BBQ, we had the temperature steady at 325F (162C). We had the meat for 15 mins on one side, then flipped it and cooked it for another 10 mins. At this point, the meat was at a internal temperature of 145F (62C). We did 4-5 layers of glaze, flipping the meat every minute to prevent burning. When it looked red and sticky and a little burnt we pulled it out and gobbled it right up!

Oven Instructions for Char Siu

To make this in the oven, it will take slightly longer than grilling it since it is using indirect heat compared to the direct heat from the BBQ.

When you are setting up the meat on the tray or roasting rack, set it on a rack so there is air flow below the meat. I like it line it with foil before setting down a rack for a easier clean up. If you don’t have a rack, you can take foil and crunch them up into foil balls and rest the meat on that.

I set the oven to 400F (204C) and cook it for 20 minutes a side for a total of 40 minutes. Then for the last 20 minutes I flip and glaze the meat with the glaze every 3-5 minutes until the glaze is all brushed on.

The burnt sugar is another trademark flavour of char siu! So don’t worry too much if it seems a little burnt. 🙂

Let us know if you made this and how it turned out with #pupswithchopsticks! We’d love to see how this turns out for everyone that’s tried it!

Glaze

Instructions

Cutting and Marinating the Meat

Combine the ingredients in the marinade section into a ziplock or a big bowl and combine it with the pork.

Marinate it in the fridge for 24 hours.

Preparing the Glaze

Remove the meat from the marinade and let it sit for an hour in room temperature.

Add the marinade to a small pot and remove the chunks of garlic and ginger

Add 2 tablespoons of honey into the marinade and mix well.

Cook it on low heat on a stove for 5 minutes or when the sauce starts to boil.

Set it aside for later, we will use this for glazing at the end of grilling

(Option 1) Grilling the Pork on the BBQ

Heat up BBQ to 325F (162C)

Cook the char siu for 15 mins on one side, then flip it for another 10 mins. Check the meat thermometer. The temperature should be around 145F (62C). If it’s not, keep the meat on longer until it reaches that internal temperature.

Once it hits an internal temperature of 145F (62C), we glazed 4-5 times, flipping the meat every minute to prevent burning

When the meat looks red, sticky and slightly burnt, remove it from the BBQ and let it rest for 20 mins on a plate before cutting into it.

Once the meat has rested, cut it up and enjoy!! ?

(Option 2) Cooking the Char Siu in the Oven

Set up the meat on the tray or roasting rack and use a rack so there is air flow below the meat. I like it to line it with foil before setting down a rack for an easier cleanup. If you don’t have a rack, you can take foil and crunch them up into loose foil balls and rest the meat on that.

Pre-heat the oven to 400F (204C).

Once the oven has reached 400F (204C) bake the pork for 20 minutes.

Flip the pork and cook for another 20 minutes

For the next 20 minutes, flip and glaze the meat every 3-5 minutes until all the glaze is brushed on. Don’t worry if there are charred sections, it’s a trademark of char siu as well! 🙂

Once the meat is done (when it reaches an internal temperature of 145F (62C)), let it rest for 10-15 minutes, cut it up and enjoy! 🙂

Notes

Cutting the pork up in long thin chunks allows it to cooks faster, and you get more surface area for the glaze.

Depending on your oven, the heat may vary. If you notice that you are not getting much of a char on your char siu, set the oven to broil and broil each side for 5 minutes (10 minutes in total) at the very end when the meat has finished cooking. Make sure you don’t leave the area and watch the oven while it is broiling so it doesn’t burn too much.

The glaze is essentially made with the leftover marinade and additional honey. The additional honey will sweeten up the glaze and thicken it up to give us that nice sticky thick layer

Use fancy/cooking molasses and not blackstrap molasses as that is bitter.

Nutrition

Serving Size:1 Serving

Calories:706 kcal

Sugar:17 g

Sodium:546 mg

Fat:44 g

Carbohydrates:21 g

Protein:59 g

Keywords: char siu, chinese bbq pork, cha siu

Did you make this recipe?

Disclaimer: As with most of my posts, I provide affiliate links to make items easier to find if you cannot purchase this locally. I would never recommend anything I don’t own myself or highly recommend, but I would prefer you buy your items locally to support your stores (and chances are they are cheaper locally!) ?

Thanks!! I really appreciate the recipe. Only one chinese restaurant in my area makes decent bbq pork, the problem is, nothing else they made was much good. I’m going to make this recipe today and am really looking forward to it. I also really like your website 🙂

Hi Mitch, Your message really made my day today and I’m so happy to have received it! Thank you for all your kind words 🙂 I actually have the same problem around here as well with finding decent bbq pork haha! 😀 Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions! …and hope you have some good eats today!

Could you please tell me the brand name of the red tofu? I have to buy it on the internet and have only been able to find red fermented bean paste. I think this may work, but I would like to stick with your recipe initially. Much appreciated.

Hi Mitch! They don’t seem to have the one I use (I’m using the Koon Yick Wah Kee brand) on amazon but you can look up the Wangzhihe Fermented Traditional Bean Curd and use that one. The colour is a deep red. There are 2 types of fermented tofu, one is red and one is white so as long as you get a red looking one you’re good. 🙂 They are also sometimes labelled as Red Bean Curd as well. Just remember to refrigerate it once you open it and it will last for a year or so. Let me know if you have anymore questions! 🙂

I cook Chinese/Asian dishes in a restaurant here in Upper Michigan/U.S. and THIS dish is going to be one of our signature dishes soon. I am using racks of baby back pork ribs—the marinated ribs go into a low heat oven covered with water with tin foil on top for 2-3 hours until tender. Then when cool they can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated then when an order for the ribs arrives they get put onto a flame grill and sauced—-the only difference I do is I don’t use the marinating liquid for glazing—I simply add honey to more marinating liquid and glaze the ribs on the grill until hot/sexy/delicious! 🙂 thanks for the inspiration—-they are STUNNING….

Wow your method sounds fantastic Jack! Pre-making it, would save so much time if throwing a party too! and yes yes yes to ribs! I LOVE ribs and this would be super tasty in rib form!! 😀 I am SO happy that you shared this! 🙂 and I am happy to help, food is for sharing right? 😀

Your welcome Joyce and yes food is sharing and when my customers are super-happy then it makes my day. I just have one question about your recipe which I think I may know the answer to and that is how did yours because so gorgeously REDdish in color? was it the red fermented 豆腐？Korean pepper flakes? both? I only had regular colored fermented bean curd in the fridge but did use Korean pepper flakes as I always have those for making homemade chili oil—–I’d like to get that gorgeous red color if possible—-cheers, and thanks again… 🙂

It was definitely the red fermented tofu that gave it that nice red colouring. The few teaspoons of sauce I added in from the jar was what did it. Definitely worth getting a jar, as they keep in the fridge forever! 😀 Christy commented below that she tried it with gochujang and it also gave it that nice red colouring as well, so I will have to try that as well – it will just bit a bit spicy as gochujang is spicy.

Joyce one more add here—-and I just realized it—-is to SAVE the beautiful pork/water after slowly simmering it in the oven—for a perfect hot au jus to dip your cold ribs in from the fridge to heat them before putting them on the grill for saucing—– 🙂 cheers— and your right—-perfect dish for a big party—–I found that 2 hours at about 200F is perfect—-

Oh my gosh, I wouldn’t have even thought of saving it for the extra flavour! Thanks so much for this awesome tip!! I am so excited to try this out now since it’s BBQ season again here! Yay! Thanks Jack you are awesome!! 😀

Ok so I just made this today……it’s amazing! I did change some things to the recipe though. I didn’t have any of the fermented tofu, so I used Mother In Law’s gochujang fermented chili paste concentrate. It still gave it the nice red color with no dye. And for the wine part I used Horin sake. I also didn’t use any molasses (mostly bc I never really liked the flavor) and stuck with all honey. I only let it marinate for 14 hours and it did not come out salty at all (maybe bc I didn’t use the tofu?). I also baked it in the oven!!!! I put it in at 325 degrees for 10 mins, used some of the marinade to coat the pork, put it back in for 15 mins, then coated it with just honey and stuck it in again for another 12 mins at 350 degrees. It came out perfect, sweet, spicy, and juicy. I did however use the pork tenderloin and not the shoulder so just keep that in mind as well. Hope this is helpful to anyone who wanted to try it in the oven:) this recipe is a keeper.

Oh my gosh!! I am so happy to hear read this! I love how you experimented and shared your findings!! I seem to be on a gochujang kick right now but I never thought to use that in this recipe but DAMN! that sounds amazing!! It’s an even spicier kick than the korean chilli flakes! I haven’t done it in the oven yet so these tips are super awesome and I am so excited to try it out in the oven now! 😀 You rock Christy!! 🙂

I think the secret is adding honey when you are glazing, because all of the other recipes I have seen do not do that. Also do you have much marinade left after marinating or do you double up? I will be using a Weber kettle and cooking indirect. Will let you know when I make next time…..Thanks again

Yes, exactly! Reserving the honey until the very end is key for that nice burnt, sticky glaze! 🙂 This makes approximately 1/4 – 1/2 cup of marinade, so I had leftover marinade for the glazing especially when you add in the honey in the end. Oh yay you’re using charcoal! 🙂 As long as the grill gets up to heat 325F(162C), you’re good. I didn’t close the lid to the grill while I was doing this, so the excess oxygen flow also bumps up the heat of the indirect charcoal. Happy grilling! 🙂 and you are very welcome.

Oh good catch! 🙂 I made that a bit confusing so I fixed up the Tip to hopefully be more clear. What I meant to say was don’t add ‘all’ the honey into the marinade and to reserve some of it for the glaze combined with the marinade to brush on at the end, but I said it in a confusing way.

No worries 🙂 I bashed the garlic with the side of the knife and did a very rough chop (1-2 chops at most). For the ginger I cut them into slices. My goal was to make them big enough so that you can easily remove them once you are done marinating. You don’t want the pieces to stick to the meat during the grilling else the pieces will burn and you want the marinade free of bits for glazing.

Hi Joyce, Just came across your site and saw your chashu recipe. After reading the recipe I had some questions. You said you grilled the meat indirect so you never sear the meat? That’s fine, I was just wondering. Another question, how thick do you cut your pieces of meat? Sure looks like the real thing. ……Thanks

Welcome and I’m so glad you found our little site! 🙂 When I grilled it, I used a kamado smoker and since it is in an egg shape, I could only push the charcoal aside so far – so the charcoal was not directly below the meat it was off to the side by a few inches (which is still quite hot). I didn’t sear the meat because I wanted the meat to cook at a even steady pace and searing it would give it too much heat right off the bat which would produce a more dry pork and raw centre. If you use a gas grill, you don’t need to worry about the indirect charcoal heat. 🙂 The awesome thing about using a pork shoulder and pork but is the meat is juicy and moist almost always. 🙂 For the sizing of the meat, I usually buy pork shoulder bone-in and slice the meat off of the meat in 2-3 inch thickness length wise so I get a nice and long strip of meat to work with. With boneless it works the same way, cut it length-wise so you get a nice long piece of meat 2-3 inches wide.

Oh! Also, when you first start grilling it, it won’t look charred, red, gloss like the pictures right off the bat, in fact it might look boring and dead. Once you put the honey/molasses into the marinade and start glazing it near the end, then the sugars will start to char and it will start looking like how it should be 🙂

If you have a kamado style cooker and want to cook indirect, get a plate setter or something like it. then you don’t have to worry about putting the charcoal on one side or the other. I just got back from Singapore and had some amazing char siew. Gonna try this sometime soon.

Singapore! I’m jealous! haha! That place is food heaven, I am dying to go and eat for a month straight haha! How did you like it there? 🙂 I do have a kamado style cooker (which is what I used for this recipe 😀 ) but my plate setter broke (sad day) 🙁 Been scoping out the cast iron plate setter but I feel like that might mess with the temperatures when I’m cooking.

If you can find oyster sauce, I would suggest 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce as substitution. However if that is also difficult to find then I would suggest 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce.

The fermented tofu also provides the red colour, so you might not get that colour after it is done cooking. You can use a few drops of red food colouring if you want the reddish tones however I would lean towards not using that as it adds nothing to the flavour except the red colour 🙂

This pork looks gorgeous!! I love char siu, but have never thought to make it at home before/I have no idea how to make it at home. You make it look so easy, I’ll have to try this ASAP! Might be a good dish for me to make on Chinese New Year to impress all my awkward relatives. And by awkward, I obviously meant awesome. 😉 Thanks for sharing!

I’m so glad you like this! At first it seems intimidating but if you break it up into 3 steps, it’s not bad at all! Marinate, Smoke\Bake, and Baste! That’s it! 🙂 Hope your awesome relatives love this as much as we do! 🙂

Yes please! I have had so many different variations of char siu and have been both underwhelmed and delighted. By looking at your pictures and ingredients, it looks and sounds so delicious. I need to try this one out. I’m saving it for the next time I attempt to make char siu!

Let me know if you have any questions about it! I haven’t tried this out in the oven yet, but I plan to maybe sometime after the new year. I’m actually quite sad I can’t do this on the bbq until the spring because my bbq is frozen shut by our wonderful Canadian winters. haha! 🙂

I haven’t had a chance to try this recipe in the oven yet, I’m hoping in the new year I will. (I’ll tack on the oven instructions as well :)) Oh I completely understand what you mean about grilling in the winter haha! It get’s to about -20 here in Canada! If you do decide to try it out, I’d suggest baking it on a rack so it has a bit of airflow between the meat and the tray that way when you glaze it, it will have a chance to dry out a bit and give it that nice stickiness and if you use a digital meat thermometer (it doesn’t need to be expensive, I bought myself a 20 dollar one 🙂 and use it on everything) you will always get it juicy and moist! 🙂 Hrmmm…as a side, I would have it with either rice, noodles or veggies but to be honest I would eat this with anything! Soupy noodles and sometimes I even put them in sandwiches 😀 Hope that helps! Oh! If you do do it in the oven let me know how it turns out! We can compare notes! 🙂

Thanks Karly! 🙂 🙂 I thought they would be on the grill for a lot longer when I was making this but the smaller cuts made it very easy to manage and quick to cook! 😀 Let me know if you have any questions! 🙂